Posted by Brian A. on Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 9:05PM :
In Reply to: W500 posted by Stuart M. on Friday, November 17, 2006 at 2:06PM :
I have a '66 W500 also and they are quite interesting. Here in Michigan, the DNR bought quite a few while they were available for fighting forest fires, mine was one of these. They were outfitted with a complete brush cage, 400 gallon water tank, John Bean pump, Wisconsin AENL engine, front winch and rear hydraulics for a V-plow. The rear mounted V-plow was used to create furrows in the path of forest fires which would hopefully slow their advance. These rigs were used well into the 90's until replacement drag links for the front axle became difficult to obtain. They were highly thought of by the fire fighters and after several failed attempts to replace them with other 4x4 rigs, this duty is now performed by a fleet of John Deere 450 bulldozers and surplus military 5-ton 6x6's. The front axle is very similar to the ones used under the WWII half-track which also carried the same weight rating and gear ratio.